I rewatched Arsenal's win over Leicester. Here are some tactical and personnel points I noticed regarding #AFC's set-up. 
Arsenal's main weapon was their aggressive man-to-man pressing. The front six were all tasked with going touch tight to Leicester's players, blocking off vertical lanes in an attempt to force the Foxes into playing long balls. Causing a high number of turnovers.
It was one of Arsenal's most assured defensive performances of the season. Restricting Leicester to just one shot. Gabriel was at the heart of this and was my man of the match. He has become so mature, much calmer and his physical presence makes him one of the league's best CBs
Leandro Trossard's false nine display was a very promising one. The Belgian constantly dropped into deeper zones to try and drag out Leicester's CBs, which also allowed both Saka and Martinelli to push higher up than usual.
We can debate why his goal was disallowed another time but you can't take anything away from Trossard's finish. Plenty of bodies blocking his path, he was calm, set himself and curled the ball beautifully past Ward
He was able to get an assist, though. Arsenal pressed aggressively right from second-half kickoff before Trossard got the ball on the left flank. He showcased excellent close control and an inch-perfect final ball before Martinelli channelled his best Thierry Henry impression.
Xhaka wasn't the right LCM IMO. When LT came deep, GX was tasked with making runs into the vacated space. ESR would be the perfect player for this role given his ability to receive in the left half-space and willingness to drive with the ball+ make runs to stretch the defence
In truth, Xhaka has been slightly off the boil for a few weeks. He was near-perfect in the final third before Christmas but has looked lost there recently. Everton on Wednesday is the perfect time for ESR or Vieira, give GX a break (he's started all 24 PL games this season)
Absolutely loved this moment out wide when 4 Arsenal players swarmed Iheanacho down Leicester's right flank. Gabriel and Zinchenko cut off any advantageous angle before pushing KI to pass backwards, ending a promising attack
Arsenal dominated and controlled the game but there wasn't enough incisiveness in the final third IMO. The final action was just clumsy at times, we ould have scored three or four on another day if the decision making was better
This little passage of play sums Arsenal's press up. Man-to-man as Leicester build-up, with the Gunners baiting the Foxes into playing it out wide. Once they make that pass, Zinchenko jumps up, supported by Martinelli. The end result? An easy turnover in Arsenal's favour
Towards the end of the game, the nerves were starting to creep in defensively. Legs were tired and Arsenal were sitting deeper in a 4-1-4-1 midblock. Jorginho then went down, needing treatment. This gave Mikel Arteta time to tell his team to press aggressively again.They listened
If you found any of this interesting, check out my tactical preview for tomorrow's game against Everton 👇
https://twitter.com/ReidTheGame/status/1630577773881245696?s=20
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